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Conventions of Space and Time
'''Summary': In support of Troy and Abed, the study group heads to InspecTiCon– the annual Inspector Spacetime Convention. Trouble begins when the group meets up with Abed's email "pen-pal," Toby Davies (guest star Matt Lucas, "Little Britain," "Bridesmaids"), whose shared passion for Inspector Spacetime comes between Abed and Troy. Meanwhile, Annie leaves the convention floor to enjoy the luxuries of the hotel while Jeff relaxes in the bar with Lauren, an Inspector Spacetime fan. Plot Inside Troy's room at the apartment, he and Britta are in bed watching a classic episode of "Inspector Spacetime". Troy tells Britta that he convinced Abed to let her accompany them to "Inspecticon a convention dedicated to the show. Abed then knocks at the bedroom door wanting to go over the convention itinerary. Troy wants to keep the fact they've been sleeping together from Abed and Britta is forced to go through an elaborate escape route from his room to the hallway outside of the apartment. When Abed opens the door to let her in he reveals to both her and Troy that he knew all along she and Troy were sleeping together. He went along with the ruse becuase he enjoyed the donuts she brought for breakfast every morning. Later, Abed and Jeff go to the study room to fetch his sunglasses before attending the convention. Jeff tells Abed he is only going to the convention so he and Annie can spend the weekend skiing. They turn on the lights and are surprised to see Pierce at the study table. He tells them he came early for the next meeting to save himself a seat and is indignant that he wasn't asked to be a part of their weekend plans. Jeff and Abed placate Pierce by saying they didn't invite Shirley either before heading off with the rest of the study group to the event. After arriving at the convention, Britta and Abed have a brief confrontation over her liking what he considers to be the worst Inspector, a female one named "Minerva". Abed tells her he respects her opinion and Troy becomes bothered that he had backed down. Elsewhere, Jeff catches up with Annie at the convention and tells her that the ski trip is off since the ski slop was closed down due to an avalanche. Britta finds them both and notes that several convention attendees have been staring at Jeff. Troy and Abed reveal that Jeff bears a striking resemblance to a villain on the show called "Thoraxis". Jeff becomes annoyed and immediately suggests to Annie that they head home but Annie is reluctant wanting to enjoy her first "adult" vacation. Jeff says she can stay but reminds her that the reservation is in his name before he leaves. Afterwards, Troy reminds Abed about the "Gluon chamber" picture they wanted to take but he says that will have to wait until he meets up with an Inspector Spacetime fan he met on line named Toby Weeks. Abed spots Toby in the crowd and introduces him to Troy and Britta. Troy is disappointed when Toby convinces Abed to bail on going to the "Gluon Chamber" to sit in on an exclusive discussion panel of the show. Elsewhere, Pierce arrived at the convention having dragged Shirley along as well. The pair are greeted by two event officials and are asked to follow them. Meanwhile, Annie is in Jeff's hotel room by herself. She becomes giddy after she calls up room service and is mistaken as "Mrs. Winger". Over in the hotel lobby, Jeff tries to ignore another Inspector Spacetime fan who has mistaken him as the actor who played "Thoraxis". He is surprised when he sees its an attractive lady named Lauren and decides to go along with it. Meanwhile, Pierce and Shirley are taken to a focus test group gathered together to discuss an American version of "Inspector Spacetime". At the convention, Troy and Britta are having lunch with Toby and Abed. When they take off together to check out more sights, Britta warns Troy that Toby is trying to steal Abed away from him. She advises him to play it cool and be nice with Toby otherwise he could end up further alienating himself from Abed by rejecting his new friend. At the focus group discussion, Shirley is worried when Pierce starts to criticize the pilot they finished watching. In the hotel lobby, Jeff tries to reconcile how someone as attractive as Lauren could be such a big fan of the show. Back at the convention, Troy joins Toby and Abed at a panel but quickly loses his cool when Toby forgets his name. After an emotional outburst, Troy runs off. Toby then invites Abed to join in in England for another convention, the "Demincininspecticon". In Jeff's hotel room, Annie is enjoying the perks and taking advantage of the room service while keeping up the charade that she is Jeff's wife. At the focus eat group, Shirley's pleas to keep the show true to it's original source material are ignored in favor of Pierce's suggestions to add a blond bimbo constable. Over at the lobby, the hotel staff alerts Annie to the fact that her "husband" is flirting with another lady. In keeping with the charade, she stages jealous public display and throws a drink in his face. After learning he is "married", Lauren throws a drink in his face and leaves. Elsewhere, Britta comforts Troy who is still upset about how he reacted to Toby and Abed. At that moment, the two new best friends are still discussing the convention in England. Abed is reluctant to go but Toby is persistence not only about the trip but also severing ties to his friends in Greendale. Abed then figures out that Toby had been lying about his friend "Andrew". Toby admits he is right but says that "Constable Reggie" type nuerotypicals like Troy always hold back high functioning Inspector types like them. Abed counters that the dynamic is necessary as it creates a perfect balance that grounds unemotional people like them to reality. Toby seemingly agrees but instead grabs Abed and shoves him inside a replica of the X-7 Dimensionizer. He refuses to let him out until he changes his mind. t the same time, Troy and Britta are about to take a photo in the "Gluon" exhibit but Troy finds he can;t go through with it. Britta tells him she understands and says he should go to Abed. Troy leaves and soon finds Toby guarding the prop he trapped Abed in. Ignoring his lies, Troy figures out what happened and chases Toby away. He releases Abed from his prison who tells him that he knew Troy would rescue him. Back at the hotel lobby, Jeff finds Annie. She explains that scene was mostly for the benefit of the hotel staff to keep up the appearance that they were married. She admits it also had to do with the fact that she was upset he bailed on her and wasn't willing to hang out at the convention. Jeff apologizes for his behavior and offers to make it up to her and starts by buying her an Appletini. Afterwards, Troy and Abed show off their fused Gluon photo while Britta shows them her Minerva t-shirt. Shirley and Pierce arrive and Abed apologizes to the pair for not inviting them. Having finished with the test group, Shirley is apologetic herself and says she did her best. Annie then shows up along with Jeff and announces they are leaving early. Jeff changes his mind and says he wouldn't mind staying longer and decides to get into the swing of things. He jumps onto a stage, rips his shirt off and says his Inspector Spacetime dopplegangers catchphrase "Bow before Thoraxis!". The fans in attendance are starstruck and quickly acquiesce to his demands. End tag The study group watches the American version of "Inspector Spacetime" starring Luke Perry and Jennie Garth, Abed then tells Priece he hates him. Recurring themes Continuity: *'Previously': **In the morning, Annie hands Britta a hair curler after she enters her bedroom, a callback to a comment she had made about Britta curling her hair in the morning in the Season Two episode "The Psychology of Letting Go" **The "Inspector Spacetime" Christmas special featured in the Season Three episode "Regional Holiday Music" is discussed by Abed and Toby. *'That just happened': While pretending to be someone else, Annie talks about her career as a forensic investigator, a major that Abed had suggested she take in "History 101" *'Googly eyes': **It's revealed that Troy and Britta have been sleeping together for awhile but tried to keep it a secret from Abed. **Jeff and Annie's feelings for each other surface again with Annie's excitement at the idea of them being married and Jeff claiming that he would never be flirting with another woman if he was married to Annie. *'All by myself: '''Pierce voices his frustration over not being invited to the convention. Though he is less bothered by it once they reveal Shirley wasn't invited as well, he still crashes the convention along with Shirley anyway. *'This must be the place': Troy and Abed's apartment and Group Study Room F are featured briefly. *'Winger speech': Abed delivers the lesson to be learned in this episode to his new friend Toby. *'Familiar faces': Beverly Hills, 90201 alumni Luke Perry and Jennie Garth appear as the American Inspector and his Constable. Running gags *'Biggest laugh of the night!: After staying the night in Troy's room, Britta is forced to go through an elaborate routine to keep up the appearance that she and Troy haven't been sleeping together. **In her bra and panties she exits the window of Troy's bedroom **She swings across the fire escape to an adjoining fire escape outside Annie's bedroom. Where a slumbering Annie hands her a curling iron. **She finishes dressing and heads outside to the hallway while Troy and Abed are in his room discussing the event itinerary. **In the apartment hallway, she grabs her shoes from where she hid them the lamps. ** Using a broom, she pokes at a spot in the ceiling where she hid a bag of donuts. **With the donuts she in hand, she knocks on the front door of the apartment and pretends that she is bringing breakfast for Troy. *'''Nice outfit: **Troy and Abed dress up as the Inspector and "Constable Reggie". **Toby Weeks dressed up as the Third Inspector. *'Rhyme time': Seeking some support against Troy and Abed's dislike of the female Inspector Minerva, Britta turns to Annie but is told by her "You're on your own Al Capone." *'You're the worst!': This phrase is replaced by references to "Minerva", a female Inspector universally reviled by "Inspector Spacetime" fans. Pop culture references Meta references *'Homage': The "Doctor Who" spoof/homage "Inspector Spacetime is featured again and it's shown that there have been multiple actors to play the Inspector throughout the shows history, much like "The Doctor". *'Up against the wall': **The American "Inspector Spacetime" shown to the focus group show is credited as having been directed by Tristram Shapeero and written by Maggie Bandur, the same writer and director of this episode. **Jeff's hotel room number is 404, the production code number of this episode. It had been scheduled to be the fourth episode aired this season but was switched to the third. *'Everyone's a critic': The focus test group can be seen as a nod to the behind the scenes conflict between NBC and Community creator and ex-showrunner Dan Harmon. The executives asked that he try to broaden the appeal of the show but Harmon would often refuse. Shirley extolling the virtues of "Inspector Spacetime" as a show that is "smart, complicated, and doesn't talk down to it's audience" and asking the American producers not to change it can be seen as more commentary on the matter. Trivia The same location used for Jeff's law firm is used for this episode as the hotel/convention center for "Inspecticon" in this episode. Reception Reviews Television critic Jace lacob of the online entetrtainment news site "The Daily Beast" announced on his twitter account the name of the episode on January 21, 2013. He had seen previews of it and "History 101" and gave the episodes favorable reviews. Fellow TV crittic Micheal Auseillo from TV Line wasn't as pleased with the episode: Speaking of Community, I’ve seen the show’s long-awaited Feb. 7 season premiere — and it’s good. Like, really good. Like, you’d-almost-never-know-Dan-Harmon-left good. I also screened a second Season 4 installment — the one set at a Comic-Con-esque convention — and that episode was… um… how shall I put this… crickets Did I mention the premiere is good? Ratings Promtional photos 4X3 Promotional pic1.jpg 4X3 Promotional pic2.jpg 4X3 Promotional pic3.jpg 4X3 Promotional pic4.jpg 4X3 Promotional pic5.jpg 4X3 Promotional pic6.jpg 4X3 Promotional pic7.jpg 4X3 promo pic Annie and Lauren.jpg 4X3 Promo pic Abed and Toby.jpg Category:Community Episodes Category:Season 4 Episodes